How much garbage do humans make every year?

Humans produce approximately 2.6 trillion pounds of garbage in a single year. A little less than half of this garbage is organic waste, which includes food and biodegradable products.

The garbage produced by the world population in a year weighs approximately as much as 7,000 Empire State Buildings. The majority of this garbage ends up in landfills and is covered with soil. Very little of the world's garbage is recycled, leading to massive amounts of refuse that must be either stored or discarded. The typical human in a developed country, such as the United States or United Kingdom, produces about 2.6 pounds of garbage each day.